From a Cincinnati HS: Periodic Table of Pumpkins

Apparently Anderson High School in Cincinnati has done one of these each year for the last several years. This story is from last year's version, but the picture (click here to embiggen) is this year's.

click here to embiggen

via @JustinGood

Friday links

Fashion Ads From The 1970s. Warning - once you see these, they can't be unseen.

When Halloween Was All Tricks and No Treats.

When George Soros Broke the British Pound.

Three major battles took place on October 25th - Agincourt, the charge of the Light Brigade and Leyte Gulf.

The Valley of the Cheese of the Dead - in this remote Swiss town, residents spent a lifetime aging a wheel for their own funeral.

Why Do Pigeons Bob Their Heads?

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include the physics of juggling, scientists investigating the secrets of smelly cat butts, a 1918 prostate warmer to restore your manly vigor (or radium suppositories if that doesn't work), and the history of toilet paper. 

Thursday links

October 25 is the anniversary of 3 major battles: Agincourt, the charge of the Light Brigade and Leyte Gulf - including a documentary on the Charge of the Light Brigade with graphic quotes from survivors and the original 1890 recording (made by Thomas Edison) of Alfred Tennyson reading part of his famous poem.

Scientists say Mount Vesuvius made people's heads explode.

The partisan makeup of different occupations.

Videos: pumpkin carving tricks and NASA’s Pumpkin Carving Competition.

A gallery of 1930s-era British open-air schools.

Scary dog costumes and instructions for pet costumes.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include an explanation of the chemicals that give Autumn leaves their colors, a self-cleaning house, an excellent site for DIY intelligent women's costumes, and lessons from the Sioux in how to turn a boy into a man.

Friday links

October 21 is Trafalgar Day: history, videos of reenactments and background explanations, and re-fighting with BBC's interactive Battlefield Academy.

The Biggest Guns in Human History.

The history of Oktoberfest is much bigger than beer.

Faust, Mephistopheles, Napoleon, Oliver Cromwell or a Hugenot: Halloween Ideas From an 1884 Costume Guide, with bonus 1880-era Batgirl costumes.

The Flyway Code: How birds avoid crashing into each other in mid-air.

A Deep Dive Into Uranus Jokes, because they never get old.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include teaching yourself to echolocate, where to poop in King Henry VIII's Hampton Court Palace, jet engines on trucks, Rita Hayworth's birthday (and an excellent compilation of her dancing), and patching crumbling walls with LEGOs. 

Pumpkin Land at the Dallas Arboretum is quite extraordinary

Pumpkin Land at the Dallas Arboretum - apparently they do several seasonal displays, but I've not seen anything but the autumn versions. A video of the 2017 exhibit is below the still photos:

Halloween links

Halloween (n.):

also Hallow-e'en, c. 1745, Scottish shortening of Allhallow-even "Eve of All Saints, last night of October" (1550s), the last night of the year in the old Celtic calendar, where it was Old Year's Night, a night for witches.

Videos: Halloween pumpkin carving tricks and NASA Engineers Show You How To Carve a Pumpkin.

Today I Found Out has an excellent Halloween Facts Roundup, including why witches are use broomsticks, trick or treating origins, and the relationship between Halloween candy and Daylight Saving Time.

The Onion's Timeline Of Halloween History.

From 1873: How to Make a Turnip Jack-o-Lantern, plus The Oracle of the Nuts.

The story behind The Monster Mash.

The Psychology of Scary Movies, 13 Forgotten Frankenstein Movies and a Horror Movie Plot Generator.

Vintage and Antique Halloween Ephemera, 11 Fun Historical Newspaper Clippings About Halloween, Vintage Halloween Photos to Give You Nightmares, and Vintage Halloween Costumes (1865 - 1955).

Pumpkin Land at the Dallas Arboretum is rather extraordinary.

Elephants crushing pumpkins.

ICYMI, Dave Barry's Halloween column from 1996: Night Of The Living Chocolate never gets old.

40,000 people's votes determined this candy hierarchy.

No poisoned candy, no razor blades in apples: Free Range Kids' archive of articles on ludicrous Halloween-related parental fears. Related: Has Anyone Ever Actually Poisoned Or Put Razor Blades or Needles in Halloween Candy? (the short answer is "No!")

A selection from Halloweens past: Faust, Mephistopheles, Napoleon, Oliver Cromwell or a Hugenot: Halloween Ideas From an 1884 Costume Guide, the best bacon costume from 1894's Covent Gardens Fancy Dress Ball, NYC architects dressed as their buildings, and several Batgirl costume ideas from the 1880s.

Is someone you know wearing a Star Trek costume? How to Read The Secret Language of Starfleet Uniforms.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include an excellent site for DIY intelligent women's costumes, rare photos from the 1862 battle of Antietam, and Earth's eighth continent, Zealandia.

Video: Halloween pumpkin carving tricks

Here's an excellent pumpkin carving kit.

More videos from the same guy:

How to Make a Flaming Pumpkin

How to Make a Smoking Pumpkin.

Friday links

Excellent site for DIY intelligent women's costumes.

This 1935 Car of the Future Had Huge Spheres Instead of Wheels.

The Strange Real-Life Origins of the Fiendish Werewolf.

We've come a long way... from 2013: Obama Mask for Halloween? That'll get you and your 750 fellow employees sent to re-education camp.

Scientists Are Just Starting to Understand Earth's Eighth Continent, Zealandia.

The Bloodiest Day in American History: 31 Rare and Haunting Photos From the 1862 Battle of Antietam.

ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include Napoleon-era travel tips, the anniversary of the day the earth was created (October 26 in 4004 B.C. at 9AM), instructions for dog costumes, 1930s giant frog farms, and a gallery of Art Nouveau architecture. 

Thursday links

Per Bishop Ussher, the earth was created on this date in 4004 B.C. at 9AM.

The Modern World of Jousting.

10 Travel Tips From the Age of Napoleon.

Scary dog costumes, instructions for pet costumes, and 16 Clearly Miserable Dogs In Halloween Costumes.

The Giant Frog Farms of the 1930s Were a Giant Failure.

A gallery of  gorgeous Art Nouveau architecture.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include a noise-canceling ramen fork, the anniversary of three major battles (Agincourt, the charge of the Light Brigade, and Leyte Gulf), why "won't" is the contraction for "will not", and videos of various ways to explode pumpkins.

Excellent site for DIY intelligent women's costumes

The site is Take Back Halloween, intended to provide more options than this:

Here's the idea:

We’re not selling any of this stuff. We’re a resource guide: we come up with the costume designs, explain what you’ll need to pull off the look, and provide links to where you can buy the various components.

As an example, here are parts of their Athena page:

Athena is easily the best-known and most popular Greek goddess. Yet none of the so-called “Athena” costumes for sale out there look remotely like her. Come on, people! She’s Athena! Helmet! Shield! Spear!

There were two very important statues of Athena on the acropolis in ancient Athens. The colossal statue inside the Parthenon was 38 feet tall, with the clothing made entirely of gold. The smaller wooden cult statue was life-sized, and dressed in a special gown made every year by the women of Athens. This dress was actually a tapestry, with scenes of mythological battles woven in purple and saffron. We can’t lay our hands on anything like that for our costume, but we are including a purple himation (wrapped cloak) with gold threads. The pieces we suggest, from left to right:

1. Gold satin flat sheet. This is for your tunic. The Greeks wore simple draped tunics of dyed wool, a look which is easily replicated with sheets and safety pins. We give you instructions below on how to pin it together. A full size sheet will work for most people.

2. Purple veil with gold and silver threads. Also available at Moondance and Artemis Imports. This is your purple himation. Loop it under one arm and knot it on your opposite shoulder.

3. Greek helmet. This is from the movie 300, which is as close as we’ll get to a Greek helmet without paying a fortune. We suggest cutting off the nose piece. This is a very flimsy latex helmet, so don’t expect a lot. Another option is this helmet, which seems to have real bristles in the crest (not molded plastic). The helmet itself is definitely made out of fabric, so you can cut and trim it to suit.

4. Greek shield. Another 300 movie prop.

5. Greek spear. Same deal.

6. Plush 9″ barn owl. Adorableness is not a trait usually associated with Athena, but this stuffed owl is adorable. Use safety pins to attach it to your shoulder at the place where your cloak is knotted. The owl is Athena’s totem animal; in fact, when you get right down to it, Athena is an owl. She’s the Neolithic bird goddess: owl-eyed Athena.

Optional snake armband: The snake is the other animal associated with Athena. Her statue in the Parthenon was accompanied by a humongous rearing snake, worked in gold like the rest of the sculpture. If you want to incorporate some snake references in your costume, you might consider a fat snaky armband like this. Athena doesn’t wear jewelry, so this would be your only ornament.

Shoes: Gold gladiators would be ideal. If you don’t have those, just basic flat leather sandals will work.

How to make the tunic: The simplest ancient tunic for costuming purposes is the Doric chiton, which consists of a single rectangle of fabric folded around the body. All you need is a flat sheet, some safety pins, and a belt or cord. You can get a rope belt here, or just buy some rope, cut off an appropriately-sized piece and tie off the ends. Here are your chiton instructions:

See the rest of the Athena page here.

An easier option, sticking with mythology, is Medusa - you get a snakey headpiece and cover it with a black turban or just a black scarf - here are instructions for wrapping your scarf into a turban. Add a pair of black sunglasses so you don't accidentally turn anyone into stone, a Matrix-esque black duster, and/or and wear your own black clothes.

Instructions for dozens of other costumes at the website.

From 2013: Obama Mask for Halloween? That'll get you and the other 750 employees sent to re-education camp

Acceptable use of presidential masks in 2017

Remember when making fun of the president was big time doubleplus bad think? The article below is from 2013.

Hillary and Trump masks are probably safe. Obama masks are available, but wear at your own risk.

I've posted the entire article below, because the original is no longer available (I copied it from a cached version):

HOPKINSVILLE, KY.-- 

A picture of a Jennie Stuart Medical Center employee wearing a President Barack Obama mask and a straitjacket was taken Friday at the hospital’s annual costume party.

The man wearing the mask is accompanied by two African-Americans dressed as security guards. The three hospital workers in the photo are identified as David Jones, DeWayne Oliver and Mike Hobson, and the group won third place in Jennie Stuart’s costume contest for their skit titled, “VIP Special Delivery.”

Jeff Taylor is a Hopkinsville resident who has worked with a number of focus groups dealing with race relations over the last 20 years. He said the photo is offensive because of the imagery it invokes. The trio wasn’t simply making fun of the president, explained Taylor, who is black, they were doing it in a racially offensive way.

“I have no problem making fun of a president if you come out in a suit and tie and a mask of a president,” he said. “But the difference is you have an African-American president in bondage. That’s just, to us, it’s iconic of slavery. It’s demeaning and degrading to us, and it’s certainly disrespectful to the president and his family.”

Taylor, who works with TVA on economic development issues in the area, said his wife is an employee at Jennie Stuart and several of her friends at the hospital were also offended by the skit. However, Taylor said they would not file a complaint for fear of retaliation.

Austin Moss, vice president of human resources at Jennie Stuart, issued a statement to the hospital employees after the photo surfaced. In the statement, he said the annual Halloween costume contest is always a highly anticipated event at the hospital, and it has been the hospital’s intention to keep events such as that one light and fun.

“He takes full responsibility for the presentation of the skit and apologizes to anyone who was offended,” Jennie Stuart spokesman Jim Goss said Monday on Moss’ behalf.

Moss continued in the statement by saying that, regardless of who the president is, it is a position that deserves respect and honor, and he will require hospital employees to refrain from political, religious, cultural or otherwise offensive costumes and representations at future employee functions.

Additionally, Goss said the hospital will be requiring diversity training with its annual mandatory education requirement for its employees.

Goss would not say if the hospital took any disciplinary action against the employees who participated in the skit because personnel matters are confidential.

John Banks, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, was enraged when he first saw the photo. He said he could tell immediately from the background that it was taken at the hospital, which to him added another layer of distaste because of the controversy surrounding the Affordable Care Act, the president’s signature health care law.

“I don’t know why they’re making a mockery of him and putting him in that kind of costume as if he was out of his mind in these critical times,” Banks said.

Banks said this depiction of Obama was a mockery unlike any other because no president in history has been dehumanized as much as Obama has. Banks called for a public apology and for the hospital to take action against the employees who participated in the skit.

“There’s a policy that deals with something like this,” he said. “I’m asking that hospital policy apply to that kind of action. It’s a suspension, a warning or removal.”

While the skit featuring Obama in a straitjacket won third place, a costume of a surgeon in full makeup won first, and a group of four employees dressed up as the people from the television show “Duck Dynasty” won second.

Reach Carla Jimenez at 270-887-3262 or cjimenez@kentuckynewera.com.

via Mark Steyn, who says, "Is none of these 750 thought-criminals man enough to tell the Diversity Commissar to take a hike?"

Jimmy Kimmel's annual Parents Tell Their Kids They Ate All Their Halloween Candy

Since 2011, Jimmy Kimmel (wiki) has asked parents to tell their kids they ate all the Halloween candy and to film their reactions. Here's the 2016 version (previous years below):



2015:

2014:

2013:

2012:

And the first one, from 2011:

Friday links

Lots of Halloween-related links.

Science: What’s the Longest You Can Hold Your Breath?

How Your Doctor's Politics Affects Your Health Care -- And What You Can Do About It.

Faust, Mephistopheles, Napoleon, Oliver Cromwell or a Hugenot: Halloween Ideas From an 1884 Costume Guide, with bonus 1880-era Batgirl costumes.

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Mother****ers (definitely NSFW)

Shopping at Cuba’s Ration Supermarkets.

The Horrifying Legacy of the Victorian Tapeworm Diet.

ICYMI, Tuesday's links are here, and include weird 70's horror movies, trucks with jet engines, DIY Halloween costumes, an Arctic Nazi base, the 2017 Vladimir Putin calendar, and the anniversary of three major battles: Agincourt, the charge of the Light Brigade and Leyte Gulf.

Tuesday links

October 25 is the anniversary of 3 major battles: Agincourt, the charge of the Light Brigade and Leyte Gulf.

The 30 Weirdest Horror Movies of the 1970s

Secret Nazi military base discovered by Russian scientists in the Arctic. Related, The Gigantic Nazi City that Was Never Built, and the always (or never) appropriate Nazis with cats.

Jet Engines on Trucks.

25 Easy DIY Halloween Costumes You Can Make Last Minute.

Just in time for Christmas - the 2017 Vladimir Putin calendar.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include a gallery of photos from the carving of Mount Rushmore (1927-1941), animals who look as if they had a few too many, the history of the pencil, and the anniversary of Trafalgar Day.

Wednesday links

Video: Halloween pumpkin carving tricks and NASA’s Pumpkin Carving Competition.

Why you love cheese – the scientific explanation.

Explaining the significance of the Economic Nobel Prize winners’ work.

Salvador Dali’s Rare Surrealist Cookbook is Being Republished for the First Time in over 40 Years.

Circa 1890, it was pretty easy to end up in an insane asylum.

Will A Chicken That's Fed Lemons Taste Like Lemons?

How Do Water Towers Work?

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include senior moment science, UFO detectors, why people with bigger brains yawn longer, and, from 1930, a set of Information Tests To Try On Your Children.

Monday links

In honor of Columbus day, here’s a list of the top 10 accidental discoveries, and the story of that time Columbus tricked Jamaicans using knowledge of upcoming lunar eclipse. Related; Columbus has been cleared of importing syphilis from the Americas to Europe.

The history of Oktoberfest is much bigger than beer.

October 10th, 732 - the clash of civilizations at the Battle of Tours (and how it shaped history).

Here's an excellent site for DIY intelligent women's costumes.

After WWII ended, one Japanese soldier refused to surrender for 3 decades.

 London’s Deep Level Air Raid Shelters.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include a gallery of bridges made from living roots, senior moment science,  UFO detectors, and, from 1930, Information Tests To Try On Your Children.

Here are 11 reasons why Halloween is better than Valentine’s Day

Here are 11 reasons why Halloween is better than Valentine’s Day:

You don’t have to be popular or attractive to get candy from a lot of people on Halloween.

You can give people candy on Halloween without worrying they’ll “take it the wrong way.”

Wearing a costume on Halloween is considered normal. Wearing a costume on Valentine’s Day is considered kinky.

It’s easier to get last-minute dinner reservations on Halloween than on Valentine’s Day.

Female friends can hang out together on Halloween without feeling the need to call it “Gal-loween.”

If you don’t want to celebrate Halloween you just leave your porch light off. If you don’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day you may need to break up with your significant other or at least fight about it.

Halloween doesn’t feel discriminatory to single people. (In fact, since they avoid the pressure to have to do a “couple’s costume,” it may be better to be single on Halloween.)

Halloween has better movies. (Okay, I haven’t actually seen the 2010 ensemble rom-com Valentine’s Day, but I’m guessing.)

Halloween has better yard decorations.

Being “scary” or “creepy” are compliments on Halloween but are generally adjectives to avoid on Valentine’s Day.

If someone does something romantic on Halloween you don’t wonder if they are only doing it because of societal expectations for that day.

From 1873: How to Make a Turnip Jack-o-Lantern, plus The Oracle of the Nuts

"Another common amusement at this season of the year is to make a turnip lantern, and in connection with this, I would warn my young folks that as a first step to do this successfully, they should procure a turnip righteously and honestly... first, procure as large a turnip as possible, and then proceed with your pocket knife to scrape out all the substance of the turnip, leaving only the rind or skin... Having scraped all the substance out of your turnip, and made a hole in the lid to let out the smoke, proceed to cut on the outside a man's face, as you see has been done by the little fellow in our picture. Do not cut the shell of the turnip quite through but cut as thin as possible, so that as much light and as little wind may get through as possible... You must make a hole in the bottom of the lantern to receive the candle. When this is lighted all is complete, and you may now call on some of your friends and show your lantern." 

~ The Dew-Drop

And there's this bit of weirdness from the excellent 1869 Chambers' Book of Days (online version here):

There is a remarkable uniformity in the fireside customs of this night all over the United Kingdom. Nuts and apples are everywhere in requisition, and consumed in immense numbers. Indeed the name of Nutcrack Night, by which Halloween is known in the north of England, indicates the predominance of the former of these articles in making up the entertainments of the evening. They are not only cracked and eaten, but made the means of vaticination in love affairs. And here we quote from Burns's poem of Halloween:

The auld guidwife's well hoordit nits
Are round and round divided,
And mony lads' and lasses' fates
Are there that night decided:
Some kindle, couthie, side by side,
And burn thegither trimly;
Some start awa wi' saucy pride,
And jump out owre the chimly
Fu' high that night.
Jean slips in twa wi' tentie e'e;
Wha 'twas, she wadna tell;
But this is Jock, and this is me,
She says in to hersel':
He bleezed owre her, and she owre him,
As they wad never mair part;
Till, fuff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e'en a sair heart
To see 't that night.'

 Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, is more explicit:

'It is a custom in Ireland, when the young women would. know if their lovers are faithful, to put three nuts upon the bars of the grate, naming the nuts after the lovers. If a nut cracks or jumps, the lover will prove unfaithful; if it begins to blaze or burn, he has a regard for the person making the trial. If the nuts named after the girl and her lover burn together, they will be married.'

Explicit, indeed. There's a LOT more on the holiday on their October 31 page, here.

Larger image here

Apparently Halloween was also know in some parts of Scotland as Nutcrack Night:

This is an old Scots and Northern English name for Halloween, the night of 31 October, otherwise called The Oracle of the Nuts. As the chill of autumn pervaded their homes, people would sit around their fires, eating newly harvested hazelnuts or chestnuts. Several fortune-telling customs grew up that involved throwing nuts into the fire, hence these names for the night.

Turnip quote via Ask the Past.

Friday links

Dave Barry's Halloween column from 1996: Night Of The Living Chocolate.

Mapping bird migration routes to global wind patterns.

How You Could Become A Stunt Driver.

This Is What 7,000 Jack O’Lanterns Look Like, and here's Pumpkin Land.

What Makes Dogs Tilt Their Heads?

Why 'Mom' and 'Dad' Sound So Similar in So Many Languages.

ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include lots of Daylight Saving Time links (Ben Franklin's satirical proposal, the guy who got two DUIs at the same time (an hour apart)), the world's slowest Rube Goldberg machine, and the extremely weird story of the life and death of the actor who played Vigo The Carpathian.

Thursday links

Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend: Here's DST history, including Ben Franklin's satirical proposal, the guy who got two DUIs at the same time (an hour apart), rants, stories and video.

All 14 Werewolf Tribes of Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Ranked.

Resurrecting a Set of Hundred-Year-Old Embryonic Genitals.

11 Fun Historical Newspaper Clippings About Halloween and lots of other Halloween stuff.

World's Slowest Rube Goldberg Machine.

The Hateful Life And Spiteful Death Of The Man Who Was Vigo The Carpathian.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include the anniversary of Agincourt, the charge of the Light Brigade and Leyte Gulf, the science of Little House on the Prairie, denture history (beginning with the teeth of dead men), pumpkin carving tricks, WWII instructions to soldiers on how to act in various countries overseas, and the remaining pages of Darwin's original manuscript of On the Origin of Species, complete with his kids' drawings.